Lessons from Cardiff: Personnel changes needed but that’s not all

The 20/20 vision of hindsight has facilitated a swathe of people in rewriting their pre-match observations, optimism and expectation replaced by a cold fury of feeling let down.

The revisionism comes with the territory, the coaches and players are well aware of that even if they can't afford to dwell on answering their critics, for a scintilla longer than last night's post match debriefing as England loom into view.

Ireland lost to Wales because of several performance issues, collective and individual, but to suggest that weren't in a position to win last night's match, as some of the post match keening has focused on, is ludicrous.

If Rory Best’s try stood - it was correctly ruled out - and with a relatively straightforward conversion to come, Ireland would have led 16-15 with about 10-minutes remaining, leaving Wales to chase the game, a remarkable state of affairs given a performance pockmarked by errors.

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GENESIS OF DEFEAT

Ireland were undone by their hand rather than overrun by Welsh brilliance. Two of Wales three tries came from Irish errors, a Talupe Faletau charge down on Jonathan Sexton in the case of the late effort from Jamie Roberts, and a misplaced pass from Sean O'Brien with Ireland on the attack, for the second of George North's brace

That led to a turnover, a superb kick from Rhys Webb and finally a lineout five metres from the Irish line, which Wales mauled superbly against 14-man opposition before Webb spotted the numerical mismatch and sent North over.

Wales deserve credit from a creative perspective with regard to their first try. Paddy Jackson did create a slight dogleg in the defensive line but it was exploited and finished ruthlessly. That try was a microcosm of the match; Wales took their chances, Ireland spurned opportunities, which they would normally not.

FROM A STANDING START

There was a failing common to Ireland's carrying close-in and in the touchline channels in that players received the ball standing still or idling. There were countless occasions when Irish players took a pass in stationary mode and that included both primary ball carriers and wings Keith Earls and Simon Zebo.

Zero momentum and no prospect of passing or offloading painted a target on Irish foreheads for Welsh tacklers. The Irish backrow was emphatically negated as ball carriers. The organisation got a little ragged too. Ireland needed a second player to latch onto the ball carrier to drive over the gain-line and ensure quick ball. Instead it was often a case of committing numbers of rescue the carrier.

Ireland made a zillion more passes than Wales but for the most part lacked penetration. Earls and Zebo got man and ball and more often than not had to use footwork not to beat players and charge forward but to evade tacklers in cluttered cul-de-sacs until the cavalry arrived.

The primary Irish gambit when the ball was flung wide was to chip and chase because there was little depth, no room and lateral rather than forward movement. Ireland were becalmed close in and out wide for the most part.

BACKROW

Wales comprehensively won the battle of the respective backrow units and it reinforced a notion that the balance in the Irish backrow may require tweaking in terms of personnel, contingent upon a slight change in emphasis in the gameplan.

Wales zeroed in on CJ Stander and Sean O’Brien, both of whom were generally on their heels starting off as they tried to crash through multiple tacklers without a suggestion of an offload, a pass or several times without much support in sight.

It was courageous and well meaning but largely ineffective; not just an interpretation but bore out by the statistics when weighed against the first three games.

BASIC MISTAKES

Dropped passes, poorly directed passes, forced passes, overrunning the ball carrier, missed straight up tackles that owed as much to poor technique in several instances all combined to introduce a raggedness to Ireland’s performance.

Some of those were pressure induced but many were not and it’s that inaccuracy that has stalked the team a little in the tournament to date that sees Ireland with two wins from four matches.

Three lineout turnovers were also pretty debilitating. Wales won that game of poker but it’s hard to escape a suspicion that Ireland were just a tad slower in set-up and execution on the night. It was also instructive to note that Ireland failed to compete effectively on the Welsh throw until the arrival of Peter O’Mahony.

It was also interesting that Kieran Marmion’s ability to speed up the game - he had a fine match on his introduction - stress tested the skillsets of his teammates and on the night some were found wanting. Marmion gave Ireland that quicker tempo but the patterns and decision-making and execution seemed to go a little out of kilter with tired minds and limbs.

It was largely individual error but there was also the odd system failure, something that will be addressed in training this week.

CHANGES IN PERSONNEL

In the two matches Ireland have lost, Scotland and Wales, for all the performance issues on the respective days, they were games Ireland could have won against teams producing their hitherto respective best displays of the tournament. Ireland were a little off in terms of the collective but also there may have to be individual accountability in defeat.

Current form has to be the ultimate barometer. Jared Payne will return to the starting team, the position yet to be determined but it's likely that there will back three won't remain intact. There could conceivably be changes to every row of the pack. The backrow will probably face a revamp with Peter O'Mahony returning.

There has to be a realisation that it’s not just about changing personnel but rediscovering a rhythm and fluency to patterns, a cutting edge and high levels of accuracy and tempo at set piece and the breakdown. Ireland need to find their playing mojo.